1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle control system. The vehicle control system includes a transmitting means mounted on a vehicle for transmitting an electromagnetic wave toward a predetermined detection area. A receiving means receives a reflected wave of the electromagnetic wave transmitted by the transmitting means and reflected from an object. An object detecting means detects the object based on the reflected wave or one of the reflected waves which has a reception level greater than or equal to a detection threshold value received by the receiving means. A vehicle control means controls the vehicle based on a result of detection by the object detecting means.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-9841 discloses an object detection system in which a detection area for detecting a target is divided into a plurality of small detection area sections. A reception level of a reflected wave from each small detection area section is added and stored in an addition memory established for each distance. When the added value exceeds a threshold value, a distance to a target is detected, so that a reflected wave from rain particles or snow particles is prevented from being erroneously detected as a hazardous object during rainfall or snowfall.
In a collision damage alleviating system or a collision preventing system, the system automatically brakes a subject vehicle or raises an alarm for urging the subject vehicle driver to voluntarily brake the subject vehicle in order to avoid colliding against a preceding vehicle or a stationary object. The system is actuated when an inter-vehicular distance between the subject vehicle and the preceding vehicle detected by a radar device decreases to a value less than or equal to a threshold value, or when the collision of the subject vehicle against the stationary object cannot be avoided. However, there is a possibility that a radar device erroneously detects an article in the roadway over which the subject vehicle can pass or a gate under which the subject vehicle can pass as an obstacle, so that an unnecessary automatic braking or alarm is actuated for such a stationary object.